A crime boss close to Putin has been released from pretrial detention due to deteriorating health.

75-year-old businessman Ilya Traber He left Lefortovo on the evening of August 27 and has already returned to St. Petersburg, according to media reports citing his lawyer. Igor Sochiyantsa.

As Fontanka reports, Traber's lawyers notified investigators of the "sharp deterioration in his health," providing medical reports. However, the charges against the businessman have not been dropped.

Traber is an influential St. Petersburg businessman whose business is linked to the city's ports. Specifically, he owns a large stake in the Baltic Shipyard. Media reports have previously reported on his closeness to Vladimir Putin, with whom he crossed paths in the 90s. Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov acknowledged their acquaintance.

Traber was arrested in June 2026 in connection with the murder of a businessman. Alexandra PetrovaThe case was opened following testimony from Igor Lykov, a Russian soldier who had been captured. He turned out to be Traber's former driver. While still in captivity, Lykov gave an interview to a Ukrainian blogger, and later, when he was returned to Russia in a prisoner exchange, he told investigators that he had been offered to kill a businessman from Vyborg.

The use of deteriorating health as a reason for easing preventive measures in Russia is very selective. For example, Vasily Butenin in the Rostov area He survived five years in a Russian penal colony, ending up behind bars on drug charges. He has no legs, having lost them at a young age to vascular disease.

Another example is a political prisoner Alexey GorinovGorinov, a former Moscow deputy, is serving an eight-year sentence for "justifying terrorism" and "fakes." While in prison, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and suspected of having pneumonia—both conditions are fatal for a political prisoner, as Gorinov is missing part of a lung. But instead of receiving help or early release, he is repeatedly sent to solitary confinement.